MoJo Author Feeds: Stephan Faris | Mother Joneshttp://www.motherjones.com/rss/authors/15756
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enLiquid Assetshttp://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/07/liquid-assets
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<html><body><p><strong>THROUGHOUT MOST OF</strong> human history, the biggest constraints on economic growth were <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/special-reports/2008/05/energy">energy</a> and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/07/why-wasting-water-so-damn-cheap">water</a>. Cities and empires were built on human sweat, the power of draft animals, and the burning of firewood&mdash;until the Industrial Revolution unlocked reservoirs of <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2008/05/scrubbing-king-coal">coal</a> and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/07/speculating-oil">oil</a>. Even then, however, producing food depended on easy access to rivers, lakes, or rainfall. With few exceptions (Roman aqueducts, ancient canals in the Andes), water was just too heavy to transport long distances.</p>
<p>That's changed in the past century. Far from being a local, static resource, water has become a global commodity, part of a robust trade in what is known as "virtual water." When Egypt, say, imports a pound of wheat from Australia, it is virtually importing the 156 gallons of water it took to grow it. And when a family in Japan eats a pound of <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2008/02/time-ban-beef-school-lunch">American beef</a>, it's effectively consuming the roughly 1,800 gallons of water that went into it. According to the United Nations, 450 trillion gallons of water are annually traded as virtual water&mdash;about 40 percent of the world's water consumption. About 80 percent of this traffic consists of foodstuffs, with crops and livestock acting as compact containers carrying water thousands of miles from its source.</p></body></html>
<p style="font-size: 1.083em;"><a href="/environment/2009/07/liquid-assets"><strong><em>Continue Reading &raquo;</em></strong></a></p>EnvironmentFood and AgMon, 03 Aug 2009 03:00:00 +0000Stephan Faris24677 at http://www.motherjones.comNigeria's Vigilante Justicehttp://www.motherjones.com/politics/2002/04/nigerias-vigilante-justice
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<html><body><p> ONITSHA, Nigeria -- Three shotgun shell casings and an empty liquor bottle lie on the rough concrete floor near where the six Bakassi Boys sit by the window. Light shines into this sparsely-furnished lobby from the street outside, where, the locals like to say, it is now safe enough to push a cash-heaped wheelbarrow. </p><p> Since arriving in this city of half a million people last summer, these renowned vigilantes have done what the police failed to do for decades: Crush an epidemic of violent crime. They have allegedly done so, however, by matching criminals' violence with lethal attacks of their own. Other vigilante groups operate in Nigeria, but none are so famous or so effective. More importantly, none share the Bakassis' distinction of being sponsored by a provincial government -- and none seem more likely to continue growing in strength. </p></body></html>
<p style="font-size: 1.083em;"><a href="/politics/2002/04/nigerias-vigilante-justice"><strong><em>Continue Reading &raquo;</em></strong></a></p>PoliticsHuman RightsSupreme CourtThu, 25 Apr 2002 07:00:00 +0000Stephan Faris15757 at http://www.motherjones.comReligion and Justice in Nigeriahttp://www.motherjones.com/politics/2002/03/religion-and-justice-nigeria
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<html><body><p> Sokoto, Nigeria - A little over a year ago, Safiya Huseini's crime wasn't even on the books. Now, the 35-year-old divorcee from a poor village in northern Nigeria faces death by stoning. </p><p> "Nobody is happy about this," says her blind father, Huseini Danwanzam, 75. "There is no justice." </p><p> Huseini's sentence -- she was convicted of adultery because she was found to be pregnant -- is the harshest and most controversial handed out in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated north since states there began adopting a hard line Islamic code in January of 2000. The authorities have yet to stone anyone, but they have conducted several amputations. The first execution carried out under Sharia law came last January, with the hanging of a convicted murderer. </p></body></html>
<p style="font-size: 1.083em;"><a href="/politics/2002/03/religion-and-justice-nigeria"><strong><em>Continue Reading &raquo;</em></strong></a></p>PoliticsIslamShariaMon, 18 Mar 2002 08:00:00 +0000Stephan Faris15794 at http://www.motherjones.com